


Moon

by kneebleed



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, F/F, Happy Ending, M/M, Magical Realism, Other, War, Weapons, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves, only mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26485555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kneebleed/pseuds/kneebleed
Summary: Humans... how do you define them? They're a mystery for magical creatures. They saw humans as a threat, something to fear. How couldn't they see humans like that? After years of hiding, because they felt in constant danger, they couldn't imagine being close to them in any way nor form.  You can't blame Phil for not wanting to meet his Luna, not after that stupid seer told him that he was a human.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester, Original Character/Original Character
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. (Phil)

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, it's time to present to the world my pride and joy. Everyone, this is "Moon", the werewolf au that I wanted to write since forever, and that I decided to work on for this version of the [@phandombigbang](https://tmblr.co/mIVPFHQ5UrxWCUGfCKbaazg). Special thanks to [@phandomhaven](https://tmblr.co/mrfbV7Hi5BHLpRGD60ZMEBQ), for correct every mistake that I made on the writing process and for cheering the idea that I had for a Twitter AU, and to [@quitethequeerity](https://tmblr.co/mVjuEXvqE1PfxBwjzVQe5dg), for creating a masterpiece with the tiny descriptions that I put on the story itself. And thanks to quesos (no voy a poner el otro nombre chau) de noruega gc for being there for me when I was way too overwhelmed with everything (las quiero mucho, gracias por existir <3)

The streets of Arcanum have always tended to look desolated and grey. There wasn’t that much joy around the corner; war does that, probably. Desolation and sorrow are the only emotions that the magical creatures let themselves feel and demonstrate to others. Fake smiles and laughs that don’t sound real at all.

They couldn’t act like the war wasn't there; at any moment, without no one knowing, something else could happen to the ones that are living there. The Venatores could arrive at any minute and destroy everything that’s in front of them. The protection spells that formed a bubble outside of the town could disappear, and since the Venatores captured witches and seers when they had the opportunity, the secret path can be opened by them anytime.

There are certain occasions where people let themselves enjoy life and forget about the existence of the war, though. Like the festivals: in those occasions, fairies shine and let their sparkles travel around the place, and the witches tell stories with figures made of smoke. The celebrations don’t always have a specific theme; those are special occasions on which they try to make kids remember that there’s hope in the world.

Phil loves the smell that the festivals have: apples and cinnamon from the pies that Mrs and Mr Gold bake in their house, and that sweet smell of cheerful orange blends perfectly that disgusting smell of sadly burned cookies. Those three smells are the favourite thing in Phil’s life, and unfortunately, he only can perceive that horrible smell of burned cookies in the air that afternoon, but for some reason, he can smell apple and cinnamon as well.

Phil doesn’t understand why he can smell apple and cinnamon; the citizens haven’t been planning on doing a festival anytime soon and he talked with Mrs Gold yesterday, and she didn’t mention anything about an apple cinnamon pie. Why can he smell it?

He decides that he has to follow the smell, find its source and confront it. And if it takes him to the Gold’s house, even better; he has had this need for a pie since days ago. Maybe he could ask them if they can bake some for him and the pack later if the smell doesn’t come from there.

He turns to the right and the left and follows a straight line, stopping from time to time to talk with someone on his way towards the source of that sweet smell. He asks some of his peers if they can smell apple and cinnamon, and they said that they don’t. Weird.

Finally, he finds its source: the thing is that it’s not a “something” but a “someone” instead. The smell came from a man with black clothes and chestnut hair that was standing outside of Bathyle’s shop, and when Phil laid his view on him, his entire world collided inside him, and he understood why he was the only one who could smell apple and cinnamon. The universe hates him; there’s no way that anyone could deny it. How dare them to give his Luna such a pleasant smell? Now he feels like he can’t escape from it.

Phil stayed behind a column savouring that sweet smell, his back was against the wall and his left upper arm was covering his eyes while his right hand clenched on his t-shirt right above where his heart was supposed to be. He wanted to disappear, he couldn’t be there anymore, but he couldn’t see himself going anywhere else that isn’t exactly where his Luna is. He can smell him and hear his heartthrobs in such a mundane way that Phil feels like he could hate him.

And maybe that’s the right thing to do. Hate his Luna, that is. Phil remembers the exact words that he heard the seer said four years ago, and he couldn’t stop thinking about them since then.

“Your Luna is a human,” she said, and plainly she said something else, but Phil stopped hearing her once those words left her mouth; he just left the room and ran away from those words.

He feels trapped in a cage that’s too small for two people, and he can’t handle being inside this situation any longer. He couldn’t see how to escape in a way that won’t make his heart hurt, but if he chooses that path, his people are going to get hurt, and that’s something that cannot happen in any situation if it’s possible to avoid. He has to do something to stop what he is feeling and hide from that human that’s making his head so dizzy.

Before Phil could do anything to stop his instinct, he felt the smell that was blinding his senses even closer than it was before.

“Are you alright?” his voice makes Phil feel like he was close to a bonfire, he could enjoy his time around it, but if Phil gets too close to it, he can get burned. “That was a stupid question, sorry.”

“Eh? I mean- yeah, I’m- I’m alright.” Phil shouldn’t have responded, why did he even open his mouth?

“Are you sure? You don’t look like it.”

“Yes, I was just…”  _ seeing if I had any options left; trying to see clearly, but all of you was interrupting me _ , “thinking, that’s all.”

“If you say so…”

“Yeah, I need to go think somewhere else now, sorry.” he didn’t let the other man respond, he just dashed as fast that he could in front of that human.

Once he felt like he was far away from him and close to the forest, he transformed into a wolf. He pressed his four legs onto the ground and started to run towards the warehouse of his pack, but in this form, he found it even harder to try to avoid the man that he saw a few seconds ago. His instincts were telling him that he has to be beside him somehow, but he has to be stronger than that; he can’t let himself be that weak and give in to what his instincts and his heart want to do

He doesn’t know how long he ran around the forest, but when Phil finally arrived at the warehouse, he stopped and just started to walk towards it without leaving his wolf form. Some of the members of the pack were around the living room playing some video-game, and they looked in his direction with faces that made clear that they knew how desolated and sad he was feeling.

Phil didn’t look at them. He couldn’t do that. There wasn’t a way that he could tell them that there was another human in the town without them freaking out. They would know at some point, but not today. Right now, Phil just wants to go to his room and collapse on the mattress and let him punish himself for being such an idiot.


	2. (Dan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only posting this for the sake of the [twitter au](https://twitter.com/goldenmmrs/status/1306262042966360064?s=20)

The fact that his family was part of the Venatores was something obvious. Dan doesn’t know if there’s a specific reason why he decided to ignore those red flags printed on his family’s name; clearly, something wasn’t right; he knew that. There wasn’t a place where he could escape to, and when his aunt that vanished years ago called him, he knew that it was time to get out of that place.

His aunt told him what he needed to do, so he followed her instructions, and he arrived at a strange town hidden in the woods. Why was his aunt living here? He doesn’t know, and he’s scared to ask. Dan doesn’t want to connect the dots that lead to his family; clearly, the Venatores were the ones that caused destruction, and his family was part of that group, and even if Dan wants to eradicate his connection to them, he can't do that so easily.

When Dan arrived at Arcanum, something seemed off; it was like the air itself had a strange aura that made him feel weird. He doesn’t know how to explain it entirely, but something wasn’t right; he knows that the war pushed magical creatures to secure themselves in places where they could be safe and more comfortable with who they were, but for some reason, everyone looked like they weren’t free. Do they feel trapped living in a place like this? Probably, but then again, Dan doesn’t know the correct answer, and he doesn’t feel brave enough to ask.

Even the name of the town itself seemed a little off; why would someone call a place “Arcanum”? It sounds like Latin, but Dan isn’t well educated on that to know about it, but he guesses that it has something to do with the history of the magical creatures, which brings him back to his first question: why was his aunt living in this town?

On his way to his aunt Veronica’s house, Dan saw a shop that was selling potions, and for him, that seemed to be a scam. Maybe, living in a place where he didn't have to see stuff like this besides those souvenirs that he saw once as a kid, made him sceptical about these things, but Dan has to remember himself that he’s on Arcanum now. Anything labelled as “magic” could be real.

Dan didn’t get the chance to ask the owner of the shop how much that weird looking red liquid (that somehow seemed to be appealing for him) cost. Something was pulling him towards a column that was close to where he was standing; it was like his entire being was trembling in anticipation of something; Dan couldn’t find the strength to fight that need, so he just went there.

When he saw the man that was standing behind the column, he felt the need to remove all the worries of the man’s being to try and make him happy. Dan doesn’t understand where that came from, but he couldn’t fight it for some reason.

Dan forced himself to stay at a decent distance from the man, and maybe his attempt of showing that he wanted to start a conversation didn’t work out, since when he found the opportunity to run away from Dan, he just did it; somehow, that made Dan feel sad, from where did that feeling come? Dan couldn’t understand what was happening around him, and he hadn't arrived at his aunt’s house yet.

Still feeling a little bit weird, Dan arrived at Veronica’s, he knocked at the door and a woman of not more than 20 years appeared at the doorway, and when Dan was about to ask if his aunt was at home, the woman hugged him with a strength that could break his body.

“Dan, oh my God I’m so glad to meet you finally,” the lady said, and if Dan felt lost before, it couldn’t compare to how confused he was feeling right now, “I thought that we could never meet, Annie told me that you didn’t want to fight when I visited her on a dream, and I knew that we should meet sometime.”

“Aunt Veronica?”

“The very same, but you can call me just Veronica if you want to,” said the lady once she let Dan go, but then she held his hand, “come in, Knigya is making tea.”

When they got in, Dan felt mesmerised by the number of herbs that were on the shelves of the cottage; it seemed like he was inside of the forest that he saw before passing the barrier.

Veronica guided Dan to the living room decorated with herbs and pictures of Veronica and someone else. They seemed to be happy, it was like the war wasn’t happening in that picture, and Dan guessed that those pictures were before the war started, but they didn’t seem to be that much old, since Veronica looked just as young as she did in that specific picture that Dan was looking at.

Dan thought about the date that the war started. He doesn’t know the exact day that Veronica ran away. Still, it couldn’t be more than 40 years. His aunt Annie was 16 at the time, and now she was 56, and Veronica shouldn’t look younger than her sister, she was six years older than aunt Annie. None of this was making any sense, and Dan felt so tired from walking for a long time, that he didn’t make an effort to formulate the question that his head was begging him to ask. He was still thinking of that man that he saw before arriving there.

Surely Dan looked so lost that when his aunt Veronica arrived with that person from the pictures to the living room, both of them stopped their hushed conversation and looked at Dan with concern.

“Are you alright?” the person in the pictures asked, “Sorry, hi, I’m Knigya, are you okay.”

“Yes, I’m-- I’m alright, it’s just that-”

Veronica looked at where Dan was looking before, that picture of Knigya and her. She looked over at Knigya, and it looked like they were sharing a private conversation with their eyes, or maybe something beyond that. Veronica returned her eyes at Dan, smiling softly.

“You are wondering how I look so young, aren’t you?” she was looking directly at Dan’s eyes, and he felt exposed.

“Maybe.”

“I know, I’m 62 years old, a person of this age isn’t supposed to look like this. I don’t know what your family told you, but you have to know that I look like this because I wanted, if I didn’t give Knigya my full consent with this, they wouldn’t have agreed at all.”

She looked angry, and Dan didn’t understand why she was looking like this; obviously, it has a connection to why she ran away from the family and why she’s living right there, in a cottage that seemed to belong to a fairytale in a town called Arcanum, living with an elf.

“What Veronica is trying to say here, Dan,” said Knigya after a few seconds of silence, “is that she took a decision 40 years ago that made her young as long as the spell will last, nobody else made her take that decision.”

“It was mine; nobody convinced me to do anything.”

“That’s why you ran away? Because they- because they are Venatores?” Dan doesn’t know what made him ask that question, but it was burning in his scalp since he received that call three days ago, it was about time that he asked it.

“Yes,” Veronica said; she and Knigya took a seat on the couch in front of Dan. “I never wanted to be part of that group of people, just like you, and when Knigya and I met, I just knew that I belonged anywhere else; I took my things then we just-” she looked at Knigya, their eyes with a special glow on their eyes “we just got here and started a new life.”

They kept talking for a few more minutes. Dan got to know more about both of them and the relationship that they had. Knigya seemed to be a nice person. He doesn’t blame Veronica for leaving everything behind for them, especially when the ones that she left behind were a group of Venatores; looking at them, Dan knew that there has to be hope for him in this town, maybe even with that man that he saw earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls [commission me](https://kneebleed.tumblr.com/post/628218764099534848/opening-fanfiction-commissions)


	3. (Phil)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how siblings interact

The next day, Phil decided that he should stay inside the safe house of his pack and never come out of it ever again. Screw his responsibilities as the leader of Mystic Shadow and the protector of Arcanum, all of them can live without him for a couple of days; the witches and elves can keep an eye out for any danger, and the seer will know if something happens. Hopefully, she will inform him of anything with anticipation. **  
**

Phil wandered around the kitchen for a while, seeing if they had any food left or if they ate it all the last full moon, but there wasn’t any, and Phil blames past Phil for not worrying about it on time. He doesn’t want to go to the town to buy food. His Luna is there. He doesn’t want to see that human.

One of the members of the pack, Astrid was her name, was in the safe house too, and Phil had to ask her if she could buy food at the town and then come back here as soon as she could.

“Why don’t you do it?” Phil regrets asking her. He didn’t want to hear that question.

“I have to sorter out some things here,” he knew that Astrid could sense the lie, the connection that all of them have as a pack helps for that.

“Is this because of the reason you came here running in your wolf form?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Phil…”

“Okay, maybe.”

“Your Luna is here, isn’t it?” Phil opted not to respond, but Astrid caught the memo, “Okay, I’ll go, need something specific?”

“Thanks, Astrid, I own you one, and no, I just- I need something to eat.”

“Okidoki sir, when I get back we need to talk about this, or call your brother, maybe that will help or something.” She didn’t allow Phil to respond before she got out of the building.

Phil can’t deny that Astrid’s suggestion of calling Martyn wasn’t a bad idea. He has wanted to call his brother for a while now, but he hasn’t found the right time; Phil’s situation seems to be a perfect excuse for that.

Phil took his phone out of his pocket, biting his lip while he was wondering if it was a good time. Phil doesn’t want to interrupt Martyn’s time out of the war. His brother decided to put a foot outside of it when he found his mate. Martyn thought that that was his best option, he didn’t want to risk it, and Phil and Martyn’s parents wanted to keep a low profile somewhere safer, so that impulsed Martyn to do the same.

Martyn told him that he could call when he needed help with anything, Phil remembers that, but he can’t help the nervousness growing on his belly. He had an internal battle for a while, finally deciding that he has to call at least one member of his family before the old lady does it.

“Look who appeared.”

“Hi, Martyn, how are you? I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

“Hi Phil, I’m fine, how are things going?” Phil debuted for a second if he should tell him, “Wait, don’t answer, they aren’t good, aren’t they?”

“I- I won’t say that everything is wrong, to be exact.”

“Phil…”

“I mean, they are fine. Mrs. and Mr. Gold still makes excellent pies, Bathyle still has the potion shop, Trix is still trying to make time travel possible for all magical creatures, Knigya is still with that human that creeps me out…”

“That sounds great, but what-,” Phil doesn’t let Martyn continue; a thought came to Phil’s mind, and he needs to express it before it escapes.

“Now that I think about it, surely both of them have a connection with the other human that arrived yesterday; I don’t have any probe, but I wouldn’t doubt it yet. I mean, it makes so much sense, don’t you think?

“And that fucking smell that he human has- he- he’s… did I ever tell you how much I liked apple and cinnamon? Guess what, that’s the smell that he has, and is so tempting to go to whatever he is right now to just be around him, you know?” Phil isn’t sure of what he’s talking about anymore, “I shouldn’t feel this way about a human, but I guess that it had to happen at some point, and- and I hate that so much, you have no idea how much I hate this situation.”

“Are you done?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“So, another human? And you think that it has to do something with Knigya and their wife?”

“They got married?”

“Yes, everyone knows that.”

“I didn’t.” Phil is sure that he heard Martyn sigh at the other side of the line.

“Anyways, why would they have a connection with the human?”

“They- they just do, did you even hear my rant?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Martyn!”

“Phil, I don’t know why you are acting this way, we know that your Luna was a human for years; you knew that at some point it was about to happen.” Phil didn’t respond, and Martyn kept talking, “You shouldn’t fight it, you know? If you do, it is going to hurt more than it does now.”

“And I know that, but- Martyn, I- I can’t, it’s too much.”

“What?”

“This- this whole my Luna being a human thing.” Phil sat down on one of the couches of the living room, letting his hand rest on his forehead as a sign of frustration, “Maybe if I-”

“Weren't they the leader of the pack?”

“No, no, god, Martyn, I could never say that I-”

“But you thought it, Phil.” He knew that lying to his brother was pointless, so Phil stayed silent like he was admitting that Martyn was right. “I don’t blame you for it, Phil, I honestly don’t. It has always been a big responsibility to hold onto, but you were born for it, Phil, you know that the stars choose you.”

“The stars hate me. I’m sure that they do.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Tell me why they don’t then.” Phil doesn’t give Martyn any time to respond. “The stars connected my soul to a human’s soul, and they choose me to be the leader of this pack and the town protector, and maybe if they didn’t do that, I could be an ordinary being, or even if they didn’t connect my soul to this body, perhaps I could be an average person,

“I know that none of this could be changed and that I have to learn how to live like this, but I’m not forcing myself to interact with a human, it doesn’t matter if this human is my mate or not, I don’t care. That’s my final statement with this.”

“Look, I know that you’ll hate this, but-”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Phil, listen.”

“No, tell mom and dad that I love them, and say hi to Cornelia for me, goodbye, Martyn.”

Phil ended the call, putting both of his hands on his face, feeling like he was about to cry. He could let that happen, let all his worries break him and give in the sentiment of sorrow, but he felt the presence of the pack inside the house, and he couldn’t let himself show any kind of weakness in front of them.

He’s the leader of the pack, and the leader can’t appear to be weak. It’s not that the magical beings and werewolves of his herd would try to steal his position, Phil doubts that they dream of doing that, it’s just that the war makes everyone feel sad, and he doesn’t want them to notice that he also can feel this way. He knows that the pack has a bond that can transmit the feelings of one another, but Phil also knows that’s possible to block it, and that’s what he’s doing at that moment.

What Phil doesn’t count on, though, is hearing that scream that came from the Arcanum, and he knows that he has to go to investigate what was the cause of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget about [ commissions ](https://kneebleed.tumblr.com/post/628218764099534848/opening-fanfiction-commissions), the [ twitter au](https://twitter.com/goldenmmrs/status/1306262042966360064?s=20), and go say hi on[ tumblr ](https://kneebleed.tumblr.com/) if you want to.


	4. (Dan)

Knigya was teaching Dan what type of herbs Veronica and they had in the house when they heard the scream. Dan’s first reaction was to look at Knigya, but they looked perplexed just as Dan was, so that wasn’t useful, so he opted to look through the window instead.

“Is everything okay?” asked Veronica while she was running down the stairs.

“We are, but I don’t think that whoever screamed like that is.” Dan knew that that wasn’t the smartest answer, but he didn’t have anything else to offer.

“I’ll go to see if they need help.” Knigya took their coat and looked over at Veronica, “You coming?”

“Yes.” Veronica took Dan from his shoulders, “You stay here. It won’t take that long. There’s food in the fridge if you want anything.”

Dan didn’t have any intentions to go outside and confront the unknown, so he didn’t refuse Veronica’s request, and opted to stay in the living room and read the books that were on the shelves. He was about to finish the first chapter when he felt something pulling him towards the outside. Dan thought of ignoring it, he genuinely didn’t want to risk it, but the invisible force was more potent than his own will.

Once Dan put a foot in the outside, he regretted even thinking about what he should do; outside was chaotic. There was a person that was floating in the air with light coming from them (wait, do they have a third eye?), and someone else was doing something weird with their hands, probably casting a spell, but Dan didn’t understand what was happening.

“What the fuck?”

“It’s Beatrice, she’s probably having one of her crises, but don’t worry, Tatiana has it under control.” Well, Dan wasn’t expecting someone answering his rhetorical question, so obviously he screamed. “Oh, shit, sorry, it wasn’t my intention to scare you, I’m Trix.”

“Dan.”

“So, are you-”

“Human!” Dan looked at where that voice came from, and that sensation in his belly became more intense. It was the man from yesterday.

“I wasn’t going to ask that, but I guess that that works too.”

“Not now, Trix.”

“Jeez, I’ll leave now. Bye, Dan, have a nice day.” They waved, and Dan did as well.

“Did you provoke this?” he pointed towards the floating person, and in all honesty, Dan wasn’t expecting that.

“Excuse me?” Dan looked directly into the man’s eyes, what a beautiful shade of blue. “Why do you think that?”

“She hasn’t experienced this since months ago, and now you are here, and this has happened.” He was pointing his finger at Dan, and he didn’t like that at all.

“But the last time that she went through this I wasn’t here, was I?”

“No,” He looked defeated, “I’m sorry, I guess that the fact that you are here got to my nerves. I blamed you for something that I know you couldn’t provoke, I’m sorry,” but Dan wasn’t going to let his guard down.

“Not accustomed to visitors?” The man chuckled. Dan doesn’t know why, but that made him slightly proud.

“Not accustomed to humans, that is.”

“Sorry, Veronica called, and I wanted to visit her, so Dan wasn’t about to tell the man everything about his life, doesn’t matter how much that feeling inside him wants him to do that.”

“Veronica?”

“Yeah, the girl that lives with Knigya? She’s my aunt, so...” Dan scratched his head, the man in front of him looked lost.

“M-makes sense, I guess.”

“Hey, isn’t it weird that it’s the second time that we meet and I don’t know your name yet?”

“Eh? Oh, it’s- it’s Phil Lester.”

“Nice to meet you, Phil Lester, I’m Dan Howell.” Once Dan’s last name came out of his lips, something inside Phil’s eyes broke, and Dan realised his mistake.

“Howell, you said?”

“Y-yeah, I-” Phil ran away again, and this time, Dan doesn’t even wonder why that happened.

Dan is well aware that his family’s last name has a history of nightmares for magical creatures, he knew that he shouldn’t have even mentioned it at all, but it just split out of his mouth with so much ease. He wants to apologise to Phil, but that seemed like a bad idea, so he limited himself to go back to the house, maybe to lament his mistake under the covers of the bed that Veronica made for him upstairs.

When Veronica and Knigya came back home, Dan was still hiding from everyone.

“Dan?” someone was knocking on his door. It was Knigya, “Is everything alright?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Okay, there’s a cake downstairs, Mrs. and Mr. Gold made it. They make the most delicious pastries ever. You wouldn’t like to miss it.”

He has never declined a cake offer in his life, but he was busy lamenting himself, so he opted for not going downstairs; surely there’s enough cake for the three of them, he doesn’t have to rush.

Somehow, Dan feels observed. He knew that that wasn’t possible; it seemed ridiculous, so he ignored the feeling. Later that afternoon, when Dan decided that it was a good time to leave his room and go to eat that piece of cake, that feeling was still accompanying him. He thought of telling it to Veronica and Knigya, but they looked so happy that Dan didn’t want to interrupt them with his problems.


	5. (Phil)

Phil wanted to scream so much that he didn’t make it to the safe house before he almost took out all the air from his lungs in a mighty cry. In his desperation, he forgot to block his connection to the pack; he was well aware that even if he did, someone was going to hear him scream and run towards him. It doesn’t matter anymore; everything is over for him.

Howell, the last name of his Luna was Howell. The human has a direct connection to the Venatores. He’s walking around the town, living under the roof of Knigya and that other human that has a link to the Venatores as well.

Phil hates the war. He hates not being strong enough to say to his Luna, to Dan, that he has to get away from this town and never return. The mere existence of this human on Arcanum is dangerous to everyone, but Phil isn’t sure that he could trust his instincts. Something inside Phil tells him that, if Dan leaves this town, Phil will follow him without a doubt, and that’s scary.

He lets himself lay down on the ground, surrounded by leaves and dirt, and cry. Phil heard footsteps in the distance, and he smelled apple and cinnamon, which made him hide his head in his arms, repeating the word no over and over again.

“Hey, Phil, it’s me, don’t worry, everything is fine.”

“Astrid?” Phil looked at her. Her big grey eyes tinted with sadness, Phil guesses that it was his fault. “I’m sorry.”

“Sweety, there’s nothing to be sorry for.” She sat down beside Phil, patting her lap insight that Phil could lie his head on her.

“But I’m crying, and you’re sad because of it.” Phil let his head rest on Astrid’s lap.

“No, silly.” She was caressing Phil’s hair; that calmed him down a little bit. “I’m sad because you are restricting yourself from enjoying your life with your Luna.”

“But-”

“Yes, he’s a human, I know that; everyone does. But, think about this, if he was a bad person, he could have never come here in the first place; whoever gave him the instructions to come here, trusted them enough to do that.”

“What if it’s a plan to make everyone miserable?” At this point, Phil was sitting on the floor, his hands grabbing the dry leaves, looking directly at Astrid, “Wh-what if it’s a plan that has always been there and we haven’t noticed?”

“I doubt that. Maybe we wouldn’t have noticed, but the old lady or Beatrice would have, and I know that they would have told us if anything horrible was about to happen.”

“Would they?”

“If it were crucial, yes, they would; you need to stop thinking bad of the seers, mister.”

“B-but what if...” Phil thought about telling her about Dan being a possible hunter, and decided that it was better to say it to her before anything horrible could happen. “What if Da- my Luna was a hunter, Astrid? What if there’s at least a tiny possibility of that happening?”

“Excuse me?”

“I- I talked with him, he told me his name, As; his name is Dan Howell, can you believe that?”

“Oh my god, Phil, I’m so sorry.” She hugged Phil; he didn’t notice that he began to cry again.

“Martyn told me that Knigya and the human are married, and Dan said to me that she was his aunt, can you believe that? We had a potential Venatore living in our town, and we just let her be around because Knigya loved her.  
  
“Do you think that they know that she’s a treat for us?” Phil doesn’t know if Astrid is paying attention to him or not anymore. “Does Knigya know that? I’m- I’m so scared for their well being, Astrid. I don’t want anything bad to happen to them, they don’t deserve it.”

“Are you sure that Knigya won’t already know everything about Veronica?” Astrid separated herself from Phil a little bit, still holding him close. “They have been knowing her before we were born, Phil. At this point, Knigya would know everything that there’s too know about Veronica, I’m sure of it.”

“Yeah?” Astrid cleaned Phil’s tears.

“Yeah.” She smiled at him. “I’m sure that Dan isn’t one of the bad guys too. If Veronica trusts him enough to give him the information about how to arrive here, surely it wasn’t with bad intentions; don’t be too harsh on humans just because they are humans. Dan didn’t treat you differently when you spoke to him, didn’t he?”

“No.”

“See? Besides, you didn’t hear everything that the old lady had to say about your Luna.” For the first time in months, Phil decided that he should listen. “He isn’t an evil person, and even when he doesn’t want to, sees good on others. The Luna of the leader of Mystic Shadow won’t treat magical creatures like monsters, but as equals.”

“That’s what the stars said?” Phil started to cry again, but this time it wasn’t because he was devastated. “That’s beautiful, Astrid.”

“I know, right? Dan seems to be a very nice guy. Maybe you can speak to him, try to clear things out.”

“Do you think that he would like to speak to me?”

“Totally.”

They stayed there for a while. Astrid gave Phil a slice of the pie that she was carrying, and he asked her if the flavour of it was on purpose. They laughed for a while, and Phil let himself enjoy his time, forgetting about his responsibilities as a leader for a while; sadly, that moment didn’t last.

“Phil!” Alexander, one of the members of the pack, ran towards him; the calm expression that Alexander always was carrying disappeared, being replaced by one of pure fear. “Beatrice calmed down, but she couldn’t stop crying and hugging the old lady.”

“Wh-what’s happening?”

“The Venatores, they are coming; if we don’t do anything, they will use the human against us, you need to do something.”

And there, like a bucket full of ice and cold water, Phil’s whole world fell over him. Dan was in peril, and he needed to do something soon before the Venatores arrived.


	6. (Dan)

That sensation of being observed didn’t dissipate from Dan. Somehow, he felt weird, like someone was controlling him with it; Dan wanted it to stop. He thought about telling Veronica and Knigya what was going on, but he didn’t understand it, and he wasn’t sure that he could explain it either, all he knew was that it was making him feel sick.

The sensation got worse when two people that Dan has never seen in his life arrived at the house, asking for permission to go in. Dan wanted to say to Veronica that no one should enter the house, but he didn’t have any right to do that, so he stayed quiet and let it happen.

“Hello, Daniel-” how do they know his name? “I’m Caphelia, I assume you haven’t heard from me, but sometimes people call me the old lady.”

“Wouldn’t that be offensive?” the other person beside Caphelia laughed.

“I like this guy!” They extended their hand, but Dan was scared to touch it, so he didn’t move an inch, and they retracted their hand in response. “I’m Jade, I suppose that you feel observed, don’t you?”

“How do you…?”

“Beatrice told him.” Caphelia smiled at Dan, and then looked at Jade. “So, we need to do the cleansing.”

“Cleansing?”

“Yup, someone is doing something to observe you. By extension, they can watch us and know our exact location.” Jade opened the weird-looking bag that he was carrying, getting a leaf and mortar out of it. “This herb is called cedar. With this, we are going to create a circle around you, and take them out of you. Hopefully, this will work.”

“We’re going to do it on the outside to have more space,” said Caphelia while she was looking at Veronica and Knigya, “I think that Phil is going to get here soon; I don’t want him to interrupt, would you guys take care of him for us?” Was Phil going to come too?

“Yeah, sure.”

“With taking care of him, you mean talking with him, right?”

After Veronica assured Knigya that they wouldn’t have to fight anyone, all of them headed towards a clear that was close to Veronica and Knigya’s house. Caphelia told Dan to sit cross-legged while Jade was pounding the cedar with the mortar. Once Jade was done, he put a bit of the cedar on Dan’s forehead, forming a symbol.

“What I’m doing on your forehead, is called sigil. When we finish this cleansing ritual, I’m going to give you one carved on a stone; you have to have it with you all times, alright?”

“Okay.” That sensation that Dan felt whenever Phil’s closer appeared. “Phil is here.”

“He’s here!” at that, Veronica and Knigya turned and took Phil by his arms once he was close to them.

Dan doesn’t know what Phil was yelling about, but Dan watched at him while Jade was creating the circle around him. Dan was trying to transmit only with his eyes that he was okay, that Phil didn’t need to worry for him. Still, Dan wasn’t sure if Phil understood him or not. Maybe Phil did because while he and Dan looked at the other’s eyes in the distance, Phil stopped fighting, and let Veronica and Knigya hold him.

Jade finished throwing cedar on the ground. He stood outside the circle he formed, declaiming incantations while setting the ring on fire. Slowly, Dan stopped feeling observed, and strangely enough, Dan wasn’t scared. It was like he was in a trance since Jade drew the sigil on his forehead. In the distance, Dan was sure that he heard Phil scream, and once the fire around him dissipated, a pair of arms held him. Dan didn’t realise that he closed his eyes and was losing consciousness.


	7. (Phil)

After hearing Alexander, and Astrid tried to calm him down, Phil followed Dan’s smell. It took him towards the town, though it was away from Arcanum, close to the forest. Phil saw Dan on the ground, Jade standing in front of him doing something weird on his forehead, and for the first time in hours, Phil let his instincts take over him.

Knigya and Veronica didn’t let him get to Dan, though; they hold his arms and don’t let him get far. Dan was looking at him, and the fire inside Phil burned more than ever.

“Let me go!” shouted Phil, aggressively moving his body trying to free himself, “I need to help him, the Venatores, they-”

“We know,” said Knigya calmly, “Jade is trying to help him; they are watching Dan, Phil, we don’t know how they are doing it, but if Jade doesn’t do something to stop it, they are going to keep observing him.”

Dan was still watching Phil. His gaze wasn’t tinted with fear, it was calm, like he was trying to transmit to Phil that everything was going to be okay; Phil believed him. Phil stopped his fight with Knigya and Veronica, letting them hold him still; the three of them knew that Phil’s instincts could act at any given moment. It was better for everyone that Phil didn’t move an inch.

But then, Jade set fire to the ring of herbs that he left on the ground, and Knigya and Veronica had to use all their strength to restrict Phil. Veronica was saying calm words in an attempt to calm Phil down, but he was concentrated on the ring of fire that was around Dan.

Phil isn’t sure how long it took to the fire to dissipate as quickly as it appeared, but when it did, Veronica and Knigya let him go. Phil was fast to take Dan in his arms, checking if he’s heart was still beating.

“What did you do to him?” Phil felt furious with Jade; his whole being was trembling with anger.

“Someone was doing something to observe him, Phil.” Jade was approaching where they were, slowly. “If I didn’t interfere, or Beatrice didn’t tell me about it, our people would have been exposed to the Venatores. We couldn’t let that happen, and you know it.”

“But why like this, Jade? There was no need.”

“It was the only way, I’m sorry.”

“You could have told me about it, I- I don’t know, warn me next time or something.” Phil looked at Dan's face, smiling a little bit. “I hope that there isn’t a next time, though.”

“There won’t be a next one, I assure you; I put a sigil on him, it’s going to protect him.” Jade put his hand on Dan’s forehead. “He’s going to recover consciously soon, we should take him to Knigya’s house.”

Phil scooped Dan, resting Dan’s head on his shoulder, walking carefully towards the location that Jade pointed. Phil saw the old lady approaching towards them, and he wanted to escape from her; he wasn’t ready to talk to her about any of this.

“I know that you don’t want to talk with me-” no shit Sherlock, “but you need to listen, Phil.” The last mentioned person looked at her, thinking if it was time to let the old lady speak to him and stop ignoring her, then Phil looked at Dan.

“Okay.” Phil was doing this for the well being of his people. He was sure that the old lady was aware of this, but she didn’t make any comment on it.

“I’m not sure if what we did here is going to do something to prevent the Venatores from arriving here.” They were close to Knigya and Veronica’s. “The main reason that Beatrice told Jade to do this was to prevent it from going further than them knowing where we’re located.”

Once the door of the house was open, Veronica took Phil towards the living room. Phil put Dan on the largest couch there, and then he looked at Caphelia.

“I guess that we have to prepare, then.”

“Prepare for what?” Veronica looked confused, and Phil remembered that she was Dan’s aunt. Phil didn’t want to tell her that she was about to see a confrontation between the people that she grew to love and her family, the Venatores; Phil knew that he didn’t have any options left though.

“The Venatores are going to arrive, we don’t know exactly when, but we have to be ready for it.” Veronica’s expression changed to one of anger. “I’m sorry.”

“Why? They are not my family anymore, and I assume that they were the ones that were observing Dan.” She looked at her nephew. “Maybe it’s my fault for bringing him to this town.” She directed her gaze at Phil. “I’m sorry for not asking about it first. You have all the right to be annoyed at me.”

“I’m not annoyed at you, Veronica, I swear.” Veronica looked surprised that Phil knew her name. “You did what you thought was best to do, besides, if you didn’t contact him, I wouldn’t have met him.” Surprisingly, Phil smiled. “I’m aware that I haven’t been acting like I’m glad of it, but how wouldn’t I be scared of him? He is my Luna, yes, but he’s still a human, and the fact that his family are Venatores made everything worse for me.”

“I wanted to hate him, you know? But it wasn’t in my nature, and then a friend told me the prediction that the old lady had, and I realised that he wasn’t a bad person. There wasn’t anything that I could despise.” Phil looked at Dan. He was awake. “You heard all of that, didn’t you?”

“Maybe,” he smiled at Phil, then he accommodated better on the sofa. 

“I think that it’s better to give them space to talk.” Everyone left the room after Caphelia said that. Phil was grateful for that, but he wasn’t going to admit it out loud.

Dan and Phil stayed silent for a moment, maybe trying to find the correct words to say, Phil isn’t sure. Dan moved on the couch, making space for Phil to sit besides him. Phil sat down, moving his fingers nervously, scared to look at Dan after all the things that he said.

“So, Luna, huh?” Phil felt his blood rushing towards his cheeks, Dan laughed at him. “Sorry, I-,” he kept laughing for a while, “it’s just that I wasn’t expecting you to blush.”

“I- It’s just that I wasn’t expecting that question.” Phil covered his face with his hands.

“What? Did you want me to ask about the fact that you wanted to hate me?” Even when the words that came out from Dan’s mouth sounded sharp, the tone of his voice was far from that. In fact, Dan sounded kind, like he didn’t want to hurt Phil at all. “I understand why you wanted to though, it makes sense, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.” Dan exhaled heavily. “You said it yourself, I have a direct connection to the Venatores, and apparently they used that to their favour to look through me. Maybe there isn’t a reason for you to despise me anymore, but I don’t think that you have enough reasons to trust me either.”

“Maybe there will be a point in our lives that I will.” Phil smiled at Dan, trying to reassure him.

“Do you think that there’s going to be more time for us?” Dan looked worried.

“Is this about the Venatores?” Phil didn’t expect an answer. “We’re going to have a plan, don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Phil smiled at him.

“Okay, I believe you.” Then, Dan’s eyes were tinted with mischievousness. “So, explain to me what that Luna thing you were talking about is.”

“Oh, em,” Phil laughed nervously, “it’s a common thing with magical creatures; every soul it’s connected to another, and this connection tends to be shown as a pull that you feel towards the person who’s soul you’re connected to. For werewolves this is called mate, but for the leaders of the packs, the name changes to-”

“Luna.”

“Yeah.”

“Uh, then that explains this thing that I have been feeling since I first saw you, then.”

“You were able to feel it too?”

“Yup.” Dan smiled at him, sweet. “I think that you should know that I don’t blame you for running from me, I understand why you did it now.”

“I ran away from you, didn’t I? I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologising, I told you, I understand why you were acting like this.”

“Thanks, Dan, you’re a good person.” Phil meant what came out of his mouth. “I think that we should call the others and go out; it’s time to prepare for what's coming.”

“They aren’t going to hate me, right?”

“I don’t think so. The majority of us grew to accept the fact that your aunt has been here for years, I’m sure that they will accept you too.” Dan seemed to be comfortable with Phil’s answer.

Phil was glad that, even when he told Dan that they were destined to be together, the last mentioned didn’t try to force anything around them; they kept being a pair of strangers that were just starting to know the other, and if the stars were right on what they said about them, surely their relationship could grow to be one of kindness. Now, the only thing that Phil isn’t certain about, is how long they have for that to happen, or if they will have the opportunity to make the connection stronger.


	8. (Dan)

In all honesty, Dan doesn’t know how to take the things that Phil said about him. A part of him wanted to embrace it, but another part of him wanted to run from it. He knows that this part is the one that doesn’t understand this world of magic. The one that wanted to know more about this world and rebel against his family’s beliefs. Dan decides that these two parts of him can coexist with one another. He has to defeat his fears to get more comfortable around these new people that he’s meeting along the way.

Dan can see himself being around magical creatures in the future, learning about their story and beliefs, trying to be a good ally to their cause, but he doesn’t think that he can be brave enough to derrocate the Venatores. Even if Dan wanted to separate himself from his family, just the mere thought of doing any harm to them made him feel sick.

Phil took him to the safe house of Mystic Shadow the next afternoon; Phil planned to present Dan to the pack, and both of them were trembling with nervousness. Dan wanted to cause a good impression of them, after all, he was the Luna of the leader of their pack.

Dan’s body cringed a little bit at the word Luna. The impact that the word had on him as astronomical. That simple word of four letters meant that he was destined to be with someone; his soul, whatever that was, was connected to another being’s soul. And that being was someone that was a werewolf.

Veronica, the first time that they met, said that no one forced her to do something that she didn’t want to do. Dan comprehended what she ment with those words that day, but now he understands his aunt; Veronica and Knigya’s souls were bonded just like his and Phil’s. Dan connected the dots inside his head, arriving to the conclusion that, just like Veronica, he will get the opportunity to decide if he wants to make the bond official or not.

When Dan and Phil arrived at Mystic Shadow’s safe house, Trix opened the door for them.

“Hi, you made it.” They smiled brightly at Dan and Phil. “You remember my name, right?” They asked looking at Dan.

“Of course I do, it has a nice tone to it.” The three of them entered the house. There were more people in the living room. “I have the impression that I heard about it before.”

“Maybe, Veronica says that the humans have a cereal named like that.”

The conversation with Trix ended way too soon. Dan wasn’t ready to meet the others yet. He tried to communicate his feelings to Phil only using his eyes. Phil responded with a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, I’m here. Nothing bad it’s going to happen to you,” Phil said with his smile; Dan believed him.

“Dan, this is Mystic Shadow.” Phil sounded awkward. His peers thought the same; they laughed at Phil. “Hey, I’m trying to introduce a human to the pack, and this is your reaction?”

“The way you said it was just…”

“Funny.”

“Funny? It sounded hilarious.”

“I promise that they aren’t like this most of the time.” Dan looked at Phil, waiting for a further explanation. Phil let out a sigh. “I swear that they see me as an authority figure. They are just making fun of me because you are here; they think that I’m going to let it split.”

“Yes, Phil, whatever you say to help you sleep at night,” was Dan’s response, and a person with long black hair laughed at that.

“He can stay, I like him already,” the person said, smiling warmly at Dan. “The name is Astrid, second in command.”

“Second in command?”

“It’s a fancy way to say that I’m in charge when Phil isn’t here.” She paused for a few seconds, smiling at herself, “or the person that’s in charge to clean up the mess that Phil is too lazy to do.”

After that, Astrid presented herself to Dan (and Phil made a sound of disagreement at her last words), the rest of the members of the pack did too. All of them seemed pleasant just from the first impression, and Dan wanted to believe what his instincts were telling him. Maybe it was Luna that was trying to manifest its blind trust; the whole “the pack is more than a simple group of people, they are family” that Phil explained to him on their way towards the safe house.

A few minutes afterwards, more people arrived at the house. They weren’t members of Mystic Shadow, they were the villagers of Arcanum; Veronica and Knigya took them there. Dan noticed a girl with vibrant pink hair and horns smiling at him alongside Caphelia. He recognised the girl as Beatrice.

“Phil,” the old lady said, her face serene, “it’s time.”

Dan wasn’t sure what those words meant, but Phil seemed to understand them perfectly. Phil nodded at her, then he moved towards a side of the living room. Dan stayed in the same position, Veronica and Knigya beside him.

“I know that I should have organised this reunion earlier, but I had to sort out a few things before, I’m sorry,” Phil’s voice reflected a confidence that wasn’t obvious at first sight. He was using a tone of voice that he didn’t use with Dan yesterday. It was the leader of Mystic Shadow and the warrior of Arcanum who was talking, not Phil. Dan wasn’t sure if he liked the separation that Phil was doing.

“The majority of the ones that are present here know that Beatrice had one of her crises yesterday,” the last mentioned raised her hand as a way of saying hey, that’s me. Dan was sure that that wasn’t a necessary gesture at all. “Would you like to show us?” If the girl responded, Dan didn’t hear her.

A cloud of smoke appeared under Dan’s feet. He grabbed Knigya’s arm out of fear, they tapped his arm in response, trying to calm him down.

“Beatrice doesn’t speak that much,” Knigya whispered, “this is her way of communication. Usually it’s a small amount of smoke, but since everyone is reunited in the same room, she’s trying to make everyone see it.”

The clouds of smoke started to rise from the ground, floating above everyone’s head. The clouds were creating figures in the air, moving just like a scene taken out of a movie. The figures were people, and if that wasn’t weird enough, Dan could recognise his own family on them.

Just by seeing the way that those clouds were moving aggressively, destroying other figures in their tramp, Dan connected the dots on his head. Yes, he knew that the Venatores were coming, but he wasn’t expecting to not see a way out of it. He was a fool for believing that he could escape from them by destroying the connection that they form to see through his eyes.

Before that the clouds disappeared, he saw Veronica and Knigya hugging in one of the figures. They seemed to be crying, and when Dan looked at the real Veronica and Knigya, they looked just like their figures made of smoke. Devastated.


	9. (Phil)

Phil wanted to believe that the interpretation that he got out of Beatrice’s smoke wasn’t true, that they were one of those fairy tales that Beatrice liked to create to entertain others, but he knew that that wasn’t true. The look on Veronica and Knigya’s faces made him sick, he wanted them to stop looking at each other like that.

Most of the magical creatures decided to ignore what caused the war; they wanted to ignore the truth. It was easier to say that the war began because the Venatores wanted to destroy them rather than the stupid reality that they were living.

To be frank, Phil never connected the dots; he never thought that the couple from the story that his mother told him was Veronica and Knigya. Everything made sense, now. And apparently, he wasn’t the only one that didn’t think about them.

The room was in complete silence. Some people were looking at Beatrice, silently asking her if she could explain herself further, wondering if there was an escape from what she saw. But she wasn't providing any explanation. She looked on the verge of tears, Tatiana holding her close.

Phil was trying to think of something else besides the possibility of a plan. He knew that he couldn't start to talk about that when everyone in the room looked lost, but it was necessary. It would be too late if he decided to talk about it another time, and the Venatores would have already arrived; he didn't want to risk it, not when he was planning to get along with Dan.

The thing here was that, in an alternate reality where Veronica and Knigya never met, he and Dan would have been the ones that caused the war. Something in the back of his mind always told him that he and his Luna could never be together, and just think about the cause of the war solidified that thought. He was a fool for even thinking that there could be a possibility for them.

Dan was already searching for Phil's eyes when he directed his gaze at him. Dan was asking him silent questions that Phil was scared to answer. Phil wanted to go towards Dan and hold him close, but after everything that went through his head in a number of seconds, he was afraid to let himself feel anything towards the man in front of him.

Now that Dan and Phil are aware of the existence of the other, being away from each other would hurt more than anything, and being away from Dan was the only thing that Phil's mind was providing as a solution.

Dan stopped looking at him after a few seconds. Phil felt relieved. He didn’t want to be the first one to look away.

Out of nowhere, without no one expecting to, Beatrice walked towards Veronica, Knigya and Dan. She took Veronica and Knigya’s hands on hers, performing another way of communication that she has. What she was telling Veronica and Knigya was only meant for them, no one else had the right to know about it.

“What do you think she’s telling them?” Phil doesn’t know since when Astrid was beside him.

“I’m not sure.” Phil looked at Astrid for a moment, then he directed his gaze back to Veronica, Knigya and Beatrice. Wait, where’s Dan?

“I think that she’s trying to provide them with a solution. Veronica and Knigya are Beatrice’s parental figures,” Phil blames himself because he didn’t realise about that. He was too busy disliking Victoria to realise that, in reality, he was the only one that didn’t trust her. But can you blame him? “I don’t think that she wants them to suffer any longer.”

“You say that because…?”

“This whole mess, the whole war-” Astrid let out a sigh. “Being honest, I never thought that Veronica could have been one of them, you know? She doesn’t look like I imagined a Venatore would look like, neither does Dan.”

“What do you mean?”

“They don’t look like monsters.”

Phil wanted to debate with Astrid for her statement. Everyone knows that the real monsters were them, the magical creatures; they are the different ones. But then again, maybe Astrid was right.

What makes a monster? Their hideous features, the way they act? Phil’s aware that not every magical creature out there is kind, but he knows that those creatures were mean to humans because they objectified them as the oppressor. They are living in a reality where magical creatures are told that they could never be free. They are being oppressed by humans because they aren't able to understand them, and they weren't trying to live in harmony with them either. Humans still support Venatores, just because they wanted to eradicate what was different from them.

So yeah, maybe Astrid was right. The Venatores were leading a genocide, and that’s what makes them monsters.

“Yeah, they don’t.” Phil and Astrid smiled at each other, ending the conversation there.

Phil’s inner wolf couldn’t stand not knowing where Dan was anymore, so he decided to look for him around the two floors of the safe house. Phil didn’t find him in any of the rooms, not even in the bathroom, and he was starting to worry.

When Phil was about to start a tracking mission, he found Dan outside of the house, sitting in the ground with his eyes closed. Phil was glad that he found him.

“Hi.” Phil sat beside Dan. “Why are you here?”

“Huh?” Dan opened his eyes, surprised to see Phil there, “Oh, well… that girl with those…” Dan put his hands on his head, then moved them up.

“Horns?”

“Yeah, eh… Beatrice, that was her name, right?” Phil nodded. “Well, she wanted to speak with Veronica and Knigya, and I didn’t want to stand there without knowing what was happening,” Dan seemed to hesitate in his next answer. “I wanted to process those smoke figures, too.”

“I guess that you didn’t understand them?”

“No. I mean- I know that a figure that was similar to my mom’s was there, holding a weapon,” he let out a sigh, “it’s way too soon to have a family reunion, I don’t want to see them.”

“There’s a way out of this.” Phil didn’t know how to explain the next part, there wasn’t a softer option to do it. “I guess that you don’t know how the war started,” Dan shook his head, so Phil continued. “Just like you and me, Veronica and Knigya were connected by the stars. They were the reason why the war started.”

“W-what? What did they do?”

“Nothing, the Venatores just thought that Knigya did something to Veronica, that they controlled her mind and that’s why she left home.”

“That’s why Veronica told me that she did what she did because she wanted to, then,” she told him that?

“Probably, yeah,” Phil wondered why Veronica didn’t tell him the whole story right there, if she already told him that no one forced her to do anything. “Now that I know that Veronica is connected to the Venatores, it makes more sense that it did before,” Phil hesitated for a moment. “I think that Beatrice’s vision gave us the answer to prevent the Venatores from coming here; there’s ways to go back in time, if Veronica and Knigya reverse their meeting, then none of this would happen.”

“That’s bullshit!” Dan stood up with anger, “If they go back in time and their meeting is reversed and they never met, that doesn’t mean that we won’t meet either because-” Phil knew what Dan thought; Phil wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep talking, “if they didn’t meet then that means that we won’t meet the other either. I arrived here because Veronica contacted me.”

“No, Dan, listen, I-” Phil stood up too, making eye contact with Dan. He wanted to stretch out his hand to reach Dan, but he wasn’t sure if Dan wanted to be touched. “The stars will join our paths, we will meet in different circumstances; everything would be different, I promise.”

“I- I don’t believe in destiny, Phil,” Phil wanted to cry. He was starting to accept the fact that his soul was connected to a human’s, and that human didn’t want to believe in his words. “Did you even want to meet me? You ran away from me, Phil.”

“No,” Dan had teary eyes, and Phil was sure that his eyes were too, “b-but it was because of this- this shitty reality that I have had to live for all my life. Maybe Beatrice wanted to explain to Veronica and Knigya how to change everything and then- then we won’t have to meet here, but elsewhere. I- I could take you out, try to know the other and then- then try to make this whole soul connection work for both of us.”

“I don’t know if I-” before Dan could continue, Alexander told them that they were needed inside. Phil didn’t want to leave the conversation there, but he didn’t have any other option than follow Alex.

There was tension between Dan and Phil. Going inside of the safe house felt awkward. Everyone was looking at them, like they heard Dan and Phil’s conversation and weren’t sure what to do. Phil wanted to scream at them.

“Well, now that all of us are here,” Astrid said. She was doing her duty as a second in command, and that assured Phil that they heard what him and Dan were talking about. “It’s time to explain the plan.”


	10. (Dan)

Sadness, that was what Dan was feeling. He knew that Veronica and Knigya loved each other, they didn’t deserve what was about to happen. Dan wanted to have what they had, and he saw that opportunity to live a forever just like them. That opportunity was lost, though. Dan won’t live forever beside a person that will love him endlessly. **  
**

He looked at Phil, wanting to reach out for his hand. Dan knew that they weren’t in that stage yet though, so he didn’t move his hand at all. Even when Dan didn’t want to admit it, it hurt. Feeling like that was something irrational to Dan; he shouldn’t feel like this for a person that he just met.

Astrid was talking, maybe about the plan, but Dan zoomed out. He didn’t want to hear what she was about to say. He didn’t want to hear anything from anyone.

Dan hates his family for giving him the life that he was having; he hates being related to the Venatores. He hates being the reason why the Venatores got the opportunity to find Arcanum. The citizens of this town hidden in the woods didn’t deserve this life.

Someone grabbed his hands, and Dan came back to the real world. It was Beatrice.

Beatrice showed Dan an alternative reality, where he and Phil were slowly dancing in the balcony of a house, both of them glowing with happiness. Dan wanted to cry, why was she showing that to him?.

“No, please, I don’t want to see this,” Dan said out loud.

“You can have that if you let it happen,” someone said to Dan, he assumed that it was Beatrice. “You have to trust in Veronica and Knigya. They are going to change the future of magical creatures, I know that.”

“How? You can’t- you can’t assure that this is possible,” Beatrice wasn’t showing him things anymore, but she didn’t let go of Dan’s hands.

“I can see all the timelines,” how is she speaking to me without moving her lips? “I told Veronica and Knigya what they needed to do to get this result,” she let go of Dan's hands for a moment, and then she reached for his cheeks. “Believe in the stars’ will. You and Phil will cross paths again, you will be happy, I promise.”

Dan let himself cry, Beatrice was drying his tears, smiling softly at him. Dan decided that he has to believe in Beatrice’s words, and by extension, on Phil’s words too.

“Ready?” Astrid asked once Beatrice let Dan go. She was beside Phil, caressing his arm. Beatrice and Dan nodded at Astrid. “Okay, Trix?”

“I was waiting to test this!” They were smiling brightly, holding two vials on their left hand. “Bathyle helped me to brew this potion the other day. I’m not sure if it works yet, but Bathyle is a potion brewing expert, so I believe in them.”

“Are you sure of this method?” Dan asked, looking at Veronica and Knigya with worry. “Is there any other way?”

“Trix has been studying time travel for years,” Phil said behind him, Dan directed his view to him, “I trust them with this.”

“B-but what if-”

“Dan,” Veronica said. Dan kept looking at Phil, “there’s no other option, is trust in Trix or battle.”

Dan looked at Beatrice, her eyes assuring. Dan closed his eyes and breathed out, then he opened his eyes again, directing his gaze to Trix, if there’s no other option…

“Okay.”

Trix clapped, beaming with happiness. They gave the vials to Veronica and Knigya, telling them that they have to think to the exact moment that they want to go back. Knigya hugged Veronica, holding her close to them. Dan stopped looking at them and started to look at Phil, who was walking towards him in slow peace.

“This is the goodbye, then,” Phil said, Dan laughed a little.

“For now, yes,” Phil smiled at Dan.

“You trust in the stars, then?”

“No,” Dan looked at Beatrice, “but I trust what she showed to me.”

“That sounds like enough to me.”

“Can I hug you until this timeline ends?”

Phil didn’t respond to Dan’s question, but he embraced Dan. The last mentioned let himself melt on Phil’s embrace, grabbing back with force and carefulness.

Dan doesn’t know for how long they are like this, but he knows that when he felt himself become dust, Phil was still holding him close.


	11. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a few words long, but all in all, I wanted to end this on a happy note, so here it is

When a human and an elf started to fight with politicians and organize riots to construct laws of protection for magical creatures and abolish Venatores, everyone that was alive back then knew that history was about to change.

The aggression against magical creatures didn’t disappear with the first riot, or with the forth, or the tenth. It didn’t disappear when the Bill of Rights for Magical Creatures was written, either. Magical creatures knew that humans would attack them because they were different from them, but that didn’t stop them. Magical creatures kept fighting to have a better future for their children.

In 1987, things were starting to look promising for magical creatures, and in 1990, anyone who agreed with the Venatores’ statement, was going to jail. It was the first time in history that the law was being respected, and that wasn’t only in first world countries. With the help of magical creatures, the world was starting to get better.

The human and the elf that started it all, took a Venatores’ baby under their wing that year, giving him the best life that anyone could ever ask for. And what was better, was that the elf and the human were bonded for eternity, and they sealed their bond under the elf’s tree shadow.

And in 2020, the year that a man with a black quiff found the baby, now a man, that the human and the elf adopted, the world was a better place.

**_The end._ **

**Author's Note:**

> you can enjoy the Twitter version of this [ here ](https://twitter.com/goldenmmrs/status/1306262042966360064?s=20), and commission me [ here ](https://kneebleed.tumblr.com/post/628218764099534848/opening-fanfiction-commissions)


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